Now...in my pictures of our trip I probably won't show you lots of touristy pics but more pictures of my impressions of our travels - and hopefully a few good touristy pics.
So, our journey began after much planning. We left Kelowna airport. Our goal for our trip was to enjoy what we were doing at the moment and not worry that we wouldn't be able to see and do everything.
We arrived in London and took the subway into the city and popped up at Picadilly Square.
To keep the costs of our trip down to a minimum I had booked us into hostels where we could. This would allow us to cook our own meals - thus reducing the need for restaurants.So...weary after a long flight we booked into our first hostel "The Antigallican".
These next two pics are contrasts taken within a few blocks of each other. I call them "Behind London Fences"
Breakfast was included in the price of the hostels in England.
One morning in London we took the river boat to downtown London. This was an interesting perspective.
A view from the riverboat of London Bridge
We popped into the Shakespeare Globe as one of our first touristy things.
Our guide at the Globe explaining something to David.
The stage of The Globe
We walked across the Millenium Bridge towards St. Paul's Cathedral (which is in the background)
Interesting architecture...
St. Paul's Cathedral.
We weren't allowed to take any pictures in St. Paul's Cathedral but I do have this one photo of a stairwell - quite boring in comparison to the grandeur of the cathedral. We took a tour and the guide told us all the interesting things about the cathedral and then took us into this extra area of the stairwell where the rest of the public is not allowed. The architecture was absolutely amazing.
We spent time at the British Museum.
I liked the Egyptian disply
Then we trotted off to the National Gallery. Some of it was closed but there were still a lot of exhibits open.
This is a picture of a typical English street (near our hostel) I took the pic because it shows the narrowness of the streets and also if you will notice the cars are parked on the sides of the streets facing both directions. It's all these differences to Canada that I found most interesting on the trip.
Our hostel.
The train station in London. You might wonder why I've included this pic - well it's because the train station was an experience in itself. First of all there are no seats to sit down on at the station and there are no garbage cans to throw away your garbage. I guess that they don't have garbage cans because of bomb threats. And there are lots of people around and there are food vendors everywhere. I'm not sure if Londoners eat in their homes or not but they sure do eat everywhere else.I really enjoyed taking the train and public transit in London because it allowed us to meet the London people and I have to say that the Londoners were fabulous people. They were very respectful to my mom and always offered her a seat if the train was full. They were helpful in giving us directions whenever we needed them. Kudos to the Londoners.
One afternoon we headed out to Hampton Court.
Impressive right from the gate
This was one of the palaces of one of the kings and this was his "Antler Room". As you will notice from my travelogue I am not really up on all the details - but that's me - I'm more concerned with the impression and experience than with the particular facts of who and what etc. David is way better at that than I am.
The gardens and fountains were stunning.
It was hard to believe that people lived in such opulence.
Mom wanted to take a carriage ride around the grounds so off we went.
The carriage ride took us along the canal
along the way we noticed the trees had these clumps in them - turns out that they are mistletoe. Who would of thought that Mistletoe grew in a tree.
We walked around the old fashioned maze and made it to the centre.
We saw some of the preparation rooms. For the palace to run smoothly there were many people required to prepare food and such to feed the guests who were holidaying at the palace - back in the old days.
Here's another pic of a train station. When we got to the train station we had to go and watch the board to see what platform it would leave from and then hurry to the station platform.
London had escalators and stairs EVERYWHERE. To go from one subway to another there was always stairs to climb or escalators to take. This was OK when we had no suitcases but when we had suitcases David was a dear and carried mom's for her. London was the only place where we didn't have a car. It's just too difficult to drive in London.
Tourist pic - Trafalgar Square. I liked Trafalgar Square. David enjoyed the history of the place and the statues.
From London we took the train to Oxford. This was a nice ride and a good time to sleep for me.
This was our second hostel. We met some very interesting people here. Oxford is a university town and full of young people. We were there on a Friday night and right across the street was a nightclub that was humming til 1 or 2 in the morning.
Some of the architecture of Oxford.
Museum of Natural Science. This was a cool museum as there were a lot of things that you could touch. It was very varied in the displays.
After Oxford we went to Bath to see the Roman Baths.When we picked up our rental car in Oxford and were driving back to the hostel to pick up mom we got a flat tire. This took us a good part of the day to organize to fix and so we didn't get into Bath until later in the afternoon.
This is the Abbey in Bath. When we first saw it in the afternoon it was closed but we noticed a sign that said that there would be meditation by music in the evening. It was Good Friday. So later that evening we went to the Abbey and entered into the service. It was amazingly beautiful to hear the organ and the choir. The sounds swirling up to the ceiling of the cathedral and reverberating around us. You've never heard an organ played like this unless you've heard it in a cathedral. This was a very memorable experience for me.
The Roman Baths were pretty cool. They were old Roman Baths from when the Romans were in England. It showed all the different rooms where they'd bathe and soak in the mineral waters.
Here's the abbey in Bath again. Yes, the Good Friday service was definitely a highlight for me.
After Bath we drove north to the Midlands of England to visit with my good friend Pam's mother - Nel Lewes. We had a great visit with Nel. Mom and I visited in the afternoon and we sat outside in her backyard and enjoyed the sunshine with a cup of tea.I have to say that our trip was so wonderful because we were able to visit the people who lived in the area.
While Mom and I were visiting with Nel, David was off to a soccer game with Pam's father-in-law, Al. They went to the local soccer, or more rightly said "football" team's stadium. David loved it.
David attended the game with Al and his son, Stewart. And David bought the team T-shirt. Going to a football game in Europe was something that David wanted to do.
That night mom stayed with Nel at her house - and they apparently talked til late at night. And David and I stayed with Al who lives in the same town of Burton upon Trente
Before we left Al gave David 2 scarves from the Albion football team and also an old program for the team. Al has been a supporter of the team forever. David was very honored to receive these gifts and is following the Albion team from Canada.
What a sweet guy!
The next day was Easter Sunday and we had the privilege of going to church with Nel to her local Catholic church. We were warmly received and thoroughly enjoyed our service and the celebration of the resurrection.
I have to say that Nel is quite the trooper. She is not a spring chicken but still takes the bus to town (even though she is legally blind) and pegs out her clothes (no one in Europe has a dryer) and insisted that we sit while she served us tea. Spunky old lady with a heart of gold.
When we left Nel's place we travelled about an hour away to her daughter's place. We stayed the night with Cathy and Bill. They were so gracious and gave us a grand tour of the area. They took us to Southwell Cathedral. Bill was awesome with the details and history.
One thing that truly made a big impression on me was that there were memorials everywhere regarding the war and a tribute to those that had fought. We just don't feel that same impact over here. Bill was very knowledgeable about the history of the wars etc and he and David really hit it off as David loves history and details of the wars etc.
Cathy and Bill.
In the cathedral there was a lovely wood bench area and in it were also carved little mice as this was the trade mark of the craftsman.
The organ in the cathedral. We were lucky enough to catch the last part of Evensong and thus hear the organ and the choir. Beautiful!
The cathedrals were all very beautiful.
My handsome husband.
This is the town park and I took this pic to again show the impact of the war. In most of the town parks would be memorials to those who fought.
I had to at least take one picture of the rental vehicle. Driving on the other side of the road was a challenge for David at the beginning but it didn't take long and he was doing fabulous. For the car in England we upgraded to a model that had a navigator in it. This was very helpful as English roads very seldom use road signs to indicate the name of the road that you are travelling on. Their signage is terrible. I got a kick out of our navigator when she would say in her English accent "At the next roundabout - Straight On". The roundabouts are an efficient way of moving traffic. But while I am on the topic of driving in England I also need to say that the drivers are crazy. They drive fast and stop whenever they like and wherever they like. Parking is non existent for the most part.
Cathy and Bill took us down some lovely back roads and we stopped by the river.
I love being by water and enjoyed the serenity of the moment.
Before we left for the UK I had purchased these Heritage passes for all of us. This had allowed us to get into all the sights in London and all the castles and cathedrals in the rest of England and Scotland. It was a very good deal. So...even though this castle wasn't on our "have to see list" we popped in to see it as it wasn't going to cost us anything extra. This was Bolsover Castle. This was the weekend getaway for one of the wealthy aristocrats of the time.
The owner of the castle was very egotistical and at the entrance to the castle door he had a carving...
It depicted that he was most important and that he was holding up the world and that life revolved around his power and strength.
This was one of the only times we ate in a restaurant - David had fish and chips. I had beans and a baked potatoe.
The Bolsover Castle from the road. Very impressive. I can only imagine how the owner wanted to impress all his guests with his importance.
Then we went to Chatsworth House and it had a much different feel to it. It was truly elegant and full of opulence but in a very sophisticated manner.
The art work and displays were magnificent.
The rooms were all furnished with art and antiques. The display of wealth was mind boggling.
There was even a whole room of statues. I have to say that Chattsworth was the most impressive palace or home that we saw. I also learned the difference between a castle and a palace. The castles were normally military buildings and palaces were the fairy tale buildings that my mind had associated with castles. I now know the difference.
The grounds at Chattsworth were also stunning. This was a man made fountain that cascaded down the hillside.
The fields were full of flowers
Again, beautiful fountains and gardens.
Mom sat on a bench to rest and David and I went walking a bit further in the grounds and walked through this rock garden area. This was pretty incredible considering these rocks and such were placed by men way back when before huge tractors and forklifts.
The rock gardens were peaceful. I enjoyed being near the earth again after being around all the glitz and glitter of the rich.
One of the things of the "Have To.." list for our trip was to go to a small town called Catterick. This was in the north of England and thus it location was what took us from London into the Midlands and then up to the northern part before going to Ireland.
In Catterick there is a town cemetery where there are RAF pilots buried and my mom's favorite uncle is buried there.
His name of Harvey Donald Muirhead. Everyone called him Mickey and he was a favorite of all the kids. My mom fondly remembers her uncle and wanted to stop by and pay her respects and honor his sacrifice for our country.
This is a picture of Uncle Mickey. Before leaving Canada my mom had this picture printed up and laminated and then she copied out a story that she had written sharing her feelings and experiences of the day that the officials came to tell her grandmother that Uncle Mickey was killed. It is a very moving story.
I had done some research before leaving Canada and we had located the cemetery and the grave number for Uncle Mickey.This gravestone is the remembrance of his life.
My mom placed the laminated picture and story beside his gravestone in case anyone going by wanted to read more about her uncle.This time in the cemetery was very moving and emotional - even for me - and I didn't know him. But I felt a deep sense of gratitude and family sacrifice. This was one of my ancestors who had given his life. It was profound.
To stand there at the graveside and to see all the other young men whose lives are marked by a simple white stone marker was significant in that all these young lives were gone because of war. And this was just a little town in the north of England - thousands more had graves scattered all over the country.
Lives snuffed out at the peak of their energy and who had so much life yet to live but gave the most precious thing - their lives.
After leaving Catterick we were on our way up to Scotland for a couple of days. On the way we went off the main roads and drove along the coast and stopped to spend some time at the ocean. This was another of the joys of having rented a vehicle - we could stop when we wanted or take a different road when we wanted.
This was Bamburg and in the distance we could see Bamburgh Castle. We didn't go in the castle as we had already seen a quite a few castles.
The ocean - now nothing made by man - whether it be a cathedral or palace can rival the beauty of the creation of God. I never cease to be inspired by the awesome power and beauty of the ocean. I love the smell, the bite of the air and the sound of the waves.
We continued heading up the coast and stopped at Holy Island. Bill had told us about his place and it was a cool little stop. It was just a small island that you could drive to when the tide was out. So you had to check the tide tables before going over to the island.
There was a small castle on the island. I took this pic because I was interested in the stone steps and the pattern they made. The stone pathways everywhere in the UK are old. David was always close by mom to help her along so she wouldn't twist an ankle on the uneven stones.
The small settlement on Holy Island
Holy Island was another sight that we could see on our History Pass and when we got to this old Priory we were glad that we hadn't had to fork out the $10 to see this as this was all there was to see and 2 minutes was all it took to see it. Wahoo - crumbled down rock! (note the sense of sarcasim)
And so we left England on our way to Scotland.
